Liveblog: Apple Announces New iPad Mini, iPad and Macs

After years of speculation, it looks like today Apple could finally be unveiling the small iPad referred to as the iPad mini, along with a few other Cupertino-created goodies.
Image may contain Tim Cook Human Person Electronics Computer and Tablet Computer
Photo: John Bradley/Wired

11:12 AM: Cook is thanking everyone for coming, we’ll be getting hands-on time upstairs shortly. That’s all folks! Thanks for tuning in!

11:11 AM: Cook is thanking all of the teams at Apple that worked to create the things we’ve seen today, and for the whole year.

11:11 AM: “Yes, it has been an incredible year,” Cook says. “With all of these new products and these applications and cloud services, this has been a truly prolific year of innovation for Apple. We hope that you love these products as much as we loved creating them.”

11:09 AM: Cook is going over the innovations Apple has shipped thus far in 2012. Mountain Lion, iOS 6, two new iPods, the iPhone 5, a completely refreshed notebook lineup, new iMacs, the third and fourth gen iPad and now the iPad mini.

Pricing.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

11:09 AM: Cook is going over the innovations Apple has shipped thus far in 2012. Mountain Lion, iOS 6, two new iPods, the iPhone 5, a completely refreshed notebook lineup, new iMacs, the third and fourth gen iPad and now the iPad mini.

11:08 AM: That’s iPad mini. Back to Tim, now.

11:07 AM: Now Schiller’s showing us the new TV ad for the iPads that will run. It’s a pair of hands playing Chopsticks in GarageBand, one on the full size iPad and one on the iPad mini. What a cute idea.

11:07 AM: iPad mini and 4th gen iPad will be available for pre-order Friday the 26th -- that’s the same date Windows 8 launches. WiFi and Cellular will be available two weeks later. Interesting. Apple is pushing it out quick.

11:06 AM: It starts at 16 GB of memory, WiFi only, at $329. Pricier than the competition -- other 7 inch tablets generally start around $200.

11:05 AM: The iPad mini has 5 colors of Smart Covers you can choose from, as well as a product RED one.

11:04 AM: “The result is an extraordinary iPad,” Ive coos in the closing of the video. “One that will be used in so many different places, in so many different ways.”

11:03 AM: There are two parts to the iPad mini enclosure, it has a diamond-cut chamfer to connect them. It has an entirely new Smart Cover design.

11:02 AM: Jony Ive always makes appearances in these videos, but he never comes onstage at events. His British accent makes him sound so distinguished.

11:00 AM: It’s got a 10-hour battery life, just like the 4th gen iPad. It is every inch an iPad, Schiller says. Now it’s video time to check it out in action.

10:59 AM: Inside, it’s equal to or better than the iPad 2 in every way. It’s got a dual-core A5 chip. It has a FaceTime HD camera, better than that of the iPad 2. A 5 MP iSight camera on the rear side. It has ultrafast wireless, the same LTE capabilities as the 4th gen iPad. It’s also got faster WiFi -- twice as fast. It’s got the Lightning dock connector.

10:58 AM: We’ve learned, Schiller says, customers love the apps designed for iPad. The other platform? Has phone applications stretched out, not tablet applications. We’re looking at Yelp on the two tablets, the eBay app, Pandora. “The differences are night and day. Great experience, not great experience.” (Great experience references the iPad mini, in case there was any confusion).

10:56 AM: Because of its smaller bezels, the iPad has a 35% larger display area than the competing Android tablet. For surfing the web, you can see a huge different on the iPad mini. In portrait, it’s 49 percent larger than the Android tablet. Sideways, it’s 67% larger. “There is a gigantic difference in these products,” Schiller says.

10:54 AM: Apple is showing all sorts of uses for the iPad mini, GarageBand, Facebook, games like Real Racing 2. “Others have tried making tablets smaller than the iPad and they have failed miserably,” Schiller says. He’s comparing the iPad mini with a leading 7-inch tablet -- the Nexus 7? It’s hard to tell, they all look alike.

10:53 AM: It’s smaller so it’s thinner and lighter, but not so small that’s it’s not incredibly usable. Side by side with the current iPad, the iPad mini has a 7.9-inch diagonal. The current iPad has a 9.7-inch diagonal. “Easy to remember,” Schiller says. 1064 x 768 resolution display. All iPad software works on iPad mini, unchanged.

10:52 AM: It’s 7.2 mm thick. It’s as thin as a pencil. It weighs .68 lbs, 53 % lighter than the 4th gen iPad. It’s as light as a pad of paper. “We were going to say a book, but books are much heavier.” It comes in black or white, again, looking similarly to the iPhone 5 in that regard.

10:51 AM: It’s incredibly thin and light, Schiller says. Now we get to see one in person. It looks pretty! It looks to have the same sort of diagonal bezel as the iPhone 5, which makes it shimmer a bit in the light. “Let me tell you a LOT more about it,” Schiller says.

10:51 AM: The audience is applauding. It’s the iPad mini. You can hold it with one hand. It’s got an aluminum and glass enclosure, there’s nothing as amazing as this, Schiller says.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:50 AM: Oh snap. Here we are, the iPad mini! We’ve got a small iPad onscreen, but we don’t know the name yet.

10:50 AM: Well, I feel like a sucker for grabbing the third gen iPad now. Time to upgrade!

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:49 AM: It’s got a Lightning dock connector, and Retina display. THe 4th gen iPad comes in Black and White, starts at 16 GB for $499. Same 10-inch size.

10:49 AM: WiFi performance has been updated too, it’s 2 times faster. Curiously, we haven’t seen a picture of this iPad yet. It could be smaller....

10:47 AM: The fourth generation iPad has an A6X processor. It doubles the graphics performance, it’s also got a next generation image signal processor. It’s energy efficient too -- same ten hour battery life as previous generation. It’s got a 720p FaceTime camera and expanded LTE coverage. Apple is working with lots of carriers around the world for LTE coverage.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:47 AM: We’re talking about the 4th generation iPad today, Schiller says. Wow. Surprise!

10:46 AM: The iPad with Retina display was introduced earlier this year, and it’s become the top selling tablet in the world. “We’re not taking our foot off the gas,” Cook says. Phil Schiller is taking the stage again to tell us what’s next for iPad... Dun dun dun!

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:45 AM: iPad is also taking the business sector by storm. 94% of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying iPads, with similar success in small businesses, Cook says. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with how iPad has been embraced by so many users for so many different things,” Cook says. “But we know we’re just getting started.”

10:45 AM: iBooks author is available today as a free download on the Mac App Store.

10:43 AM: 2,500 schools in the US are using iBooks textbooks. Small publishers, teachers, universities, are all using this to provide engaging content. The latest version of iBooks author is being announced today. It has new templates, like a portrait only template. You can create embedded fonts for a custom look to book. Beginning today, publishers can also insert mathematical expressions directly into books. Multi-touch widgets provide more options for interactivity.

10:43 AM: iBooks Author was introduced so you can reinvent the textbook with gorgeous full screen layouts, interactive diagrams and more. iBooks textbooks are now available for 80 percent of the US high school core curriculum. I’m jealous -- I had to lug around 50 pounds of heavy paper textbooks!

10:42 AM: The iPad is an incredibly learning tool, educators are learning. “The iPad has been a real game changer in education,” the McAllen ISD superintendent in Texas said. The quote is up on screen.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:41 AM: People love all the iPad’s features, Cook says -- things like all-day battery life. “One of the things that is so rewarding and so amazing to us is how quickly iPad has been embraced in education,” Cook says.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:40 AM: The iPad accounts for over 90% of tablet web traffic -- and this is the thing Cook says people do most often on a tablet. Why is iPad so successful, Cook asks. “People love their iPads,” he answers. Haha, simple, why didn’t I think of that!

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:39 AM: This is unprecedented for a new product in a new category, Cook says. To put it in perspective, Apple sold more iPads in the June quarter than any PC maker sold of their entire PC lineup.

10:38 AM: Next, Cook wants to talk about iPad. “It seems like each time we get together, there’s a new number or statistic to illustrate the growth and momentum of this product,” Cook says. Today, two weeks ago, Apple sold its 100 millionth iPad.

10:38 AM: Tim Cook is back onstage. He’s wearing a blue shirt today, and black pants.

10:38 AM: The new iMac uses 50 percent less power when sitting idle. That’s all for iMac news today!

10:37 AM: It comes with a wireless keyboard or wireless mouse, You can get an optical drive that plugs into USB. The 21.5 inch iMac with 1 TB HDD starts at $1299. These start shipping in November. The 27 inch iMac starts at $1799. These start shipping in December.

Fusion Drive.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:35 AM: When you order your iMac and choose the fusion drive, you get this one drive built in. All the software pre-installed on the iMac can be stored on Flash. The Fusion drive then figures out how you use your computer and decides what will work best on the HDD or on Flash. You just use it, it works, Schiller says. In Aperture for example, you can get 3.5 times the speed of a photo import in Flash than on an HDD. WIth Fusion drive, you get almost the same speed as Flash, without having to do anything else, Schiller says.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:34 AM: YOu can normally choose between Flash or HDD, but now Apple is offering something called the Fusion drive. It’s 128 GB of flash storage and your choice of a 1 or 3 TB hard drive, fused into a single volume for faster reads and writes. It’s built into OS X Mountain Lion.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:34 AM: Headphone port, SD card, 4 USB 3 port, 2 Thunderbolt, and Ethernet.

10:33 AM: Other features: a 720p HD FaceTime camera, dual mics, and dual speakers. It sheds 8 pounds over the previous generation. Inside, there’s a “serious computer inside,” Schiller says. Intel quad core i5 or i7 processors, NVIDIA Kepler graphics up to 768 KB of Flash.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:32 AM: It uses a new technology called plasma deposition that lets Apple apply a nanometer thick anti-reflective coating to the display, resulting in 75 percent less reflection than the previous generation. Each display is individually calibrated.

Display.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:31 AM: Apple then re-engineered all the internal components. It comes in two sizes, 21.5-inch (1920 x 1080) and 27 inch (2560 x 1440). 178 degree viewing angles on both, IPS displays.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:30 AM: This is so thin, the engineering team used a technology called “Friction stir welding.” THe molecules of the aluminum are merged together to create a seamless piece. How did we make it that thin, Schiller asks. The previous generation looks so chubby! The team engineered a display that’s 5 mm thinner. Normally, there’s a 2 mm gap of air between glass and display. Apple eliminated that by laminating the two together, creating a 45% thinner display.

New iMac.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:29 AM: Let’s see how thin it is: The edge is super thin, it does get a little concave towards the center -- it’s not quite as completely flat as the first images suggested, but the edges are super thin. The edge is 5 mm thin, 80 percent thinner than the previous generation and it extends teh whole length.

10:28 AM: Wow. The audience is applauding. It’s basically a display on a stand and nothing else. Edge to edge glass. “Would you like to see one in person?” Yes please!

iMac evolution.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:28 AM: We’ve had seven generations of iMac, each generation better than the last. The next generation iMac looks ultra, ultra, thin. Holy crap.

10:27 AM: The iMac is the number one desktop model in the US, some think of it as the flagship of the Mac product line. It started back in 1998.

10:27 AM: Mac Mini is the world’s most energy efficient desktop, it idles at 11 Watts, Schiller says. One more Mac announcement -- the iMac.

Inside the Mac mini.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:25 AM: The new Mac Mini is packed with features, including 4 USB 3 ports. Inside, it’s a beautiful, simple, small design with a dual or quad core Ivy Bridge processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, up to 16 GB of memory or 256 of Flash. It starts (2.5 GHz, dual core i5, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD) for $599. 2.3GHz quad core i7 with a two 1 TB drives starts at $999.

Lineup.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:24 AM: The full Mac notebook lineup: $999 MacBook Air, $1199 MacBOok Pro, MacBook Pro with Retina display $1699. “This is the best lineup of portables we have ever offered,” Schiller says. Now, Mac Mini -- “You knew there’d be something called Mini in this presentation,” Schiller said to applause and chuckles.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:23 AM: Schiller is outlining some of the MacBook Pro’s green features, like Energy Star 5.2 rating and EPEAT Gold rating.

10:22 AM: The 2.5GHz dual core i5 with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB flash is $1699 and starts shipping today.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:21 AM: It ships with Mountain Lion, of course, and all of the key features that come with that OS, like Power Nap, which lets contacts, calendar, and software get updated while it sleeps.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:20AM: It’s got a 720p FaceTime HD camera, stereo speakers, dual mics. On the inside (we’re getting a peek inside), everything has been re engineered from scratch. It’s jam packed with parts. It uses asymmetric lithium ion battery technology to maximize battery life. It’s got a 7-hour battery. Intel dual core i5 or i& Ivy Bridge Processor, and Intel HD Graphics 4000.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:20 AM: Schiller is showing a few examples of how the Retina display comes in handy -- crisp email text, photo editing for photographers. There are lots of Retina-ready apps in the Mac App Store, too.

10:19 AM: What do you think -- would you rather get a 13 inch MacBook Air, or a 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina display?

10:19 AM: “It is a stunning display,” Schiller says. Rich color, deep blacks, 29% higher contrast ratio and a 75 % reduction in glare. 178 degree viewing angle and a very bright display.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:18 AM: It has more pixels than any competitor 13 or 15 inch notebook (except the 15 inch MacBook Pro with Retina display).

10:17 AM: On the lefthand side, it’s got MagSafe 2, Thunderbolt, USB 3, and other peripherals. On the other side, no optical drive, SD Card, HDMI, and a second USB 3 port. “Equally beautiful on both sides,” Schiller says. It’s got a Retina display. It measures 13.3 inch diagonal, 2560 x 1600 resolution -- 4x the pixels than the previous version. that’s over 4 million pixels, making it the world’s second highest resolution notebook display.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:16 AM: Apple’s number one selling notebook is actually the 13 inch MacBook Pro, Schiller says. “We’re going to introduce something so much better,” Schiller says. It’s the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. It is incredibly thin. .75-inches thin. You can see the difference from the previous version, 20% thinner. It weighs just over 3.5 pounds (3.57 pounds). A pound lighter than the previous generation and the lightest MacBook Pro ever.

10:15 AM: “Today is a very big day for the Mac. It starts with MacBook,” Schiller says. A few months ago, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display was introduced. It’s gotten some great kudos -- including a quote from my review here on Wired!

10:14 AM: We’re really pleased with all the momentum with the Mac, but we’re not standing still, Cook says. He’s bringing up Phil Schiller onstage to deliver today’s Mac related announcements.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:13 AM: Now we’re going to talk about the Mac. For the year ending in June, Mac outgrew PC market by about 7 times -- 15% versus 2%. The Mac has been outgrwoing the PC market for the past 6 years. Mac is consistently named number one in satisfaction and reliability. The Mac is the number one desktop in the US and the number one notebook in the US. Wonder what Microsoft will have to say to that at its Windows 8 event later this week.

iBooks.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:12 AM: iBooks is also supporting over 40 languages. Chinese, Japanese, the pages turn left to right just as you’d expect -- if you’re Japanese that is. The audience chuckles.

10:12 AM: The new version of iBooks is also better integrated with iCloud, so all your purchased books show up on your bookshelf and you can tap one and begin reading just where you left off. There’s new ways to share, too: tap a favorite quote and share with Facebook or Twitter.

10:12 AM: Today, we have a new version of iBooks with a cool new reading option: continuous scrolling.

10:11 AM: Some people seem not to have turned the sound off on their phones. Come on people.

10:10 AM: “One of the most popular apps in the store is iBooks,” Cook says. Its virtual bookshelf holds all your books, and one tap brings you to the iBookstore. There are now 1.5 million books in the iBookstore. Customers have downloaded 400 million books since the inception of the store, Cook says.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:09 AM: We’ve reached another milestone, Cook says. Customers have downloaded 35 billion apps from the store. “This is jaw dropping,” Cook says. This is great for customers, because it gives them the choice of fantastic apps, but it’s also great for developers. Apple has paid out 6.5 billion dollars to developers.

10:09 AM: Onto the App Store. Last month, there were over 700,000 apps in the App Store, and 275,000 iPad apps. These numbers are still growing.

10:08 AM: 28,000 iMessages are sent per second.

10:08 AM: There are 160 million Game Center accounts now. Shared Photo Stream, which launched with iOS 6, now has over 70 million photos shared on this service.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:07 AM: “iMessage is the best way to send anyone a message on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad,” Cook says. (When it works correctly, we’d say!) Customers have sent 300 billion iMessages so far.

10:07 AM: Now we’re summing up some OS X Mountain Lion features, like Documents in the Cloud. Customers have placed 125 million documents in the cloud so far.

Tim Cook.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

10:06 AM: Now, iOS 6. “Our teams work really really hard to make sure that as many devices as possible are upgraded to the latest operating system,” Cook says. I nuust over a month, 200 million devices are now running iOS 6. Wow! “This is phenomenal,” Cook says. This is the fastest upgrade rate of any software update in history that we’re aware of, he says.

10:05 AM: Sales are going fantastic. Cook is pleased to say that together with the rest of the iPod lineup, they’ve sold over 3 million units. If you’re looking for a holiday gift, Cook recommends an iPod.

10:04 AM: Tim Cook is talking about the new iPods that were announced last month -- the new iPod Nano and iPod Touch. “These are off to a fantastic start,” Cook said.

10:03 AM: There was even a dog at one of the Apple Stores! It looked fluffy.

10:02 AM: You know, I’ve never gotten to be one of those people who high fives Apple staff as their one of the first to get an iPhone or iPad, because I’m always out interviewing people in line outside the store!

10:02 AM: Apple is showing us a video to give us an idea of the excitement going on at Apple Stores that opening weekend. Panoramas of Apple Store exteriors around the world -- New York, London.

10:01 AM: iPhone 5 is up to a tremendous start, Cook says. “We sold out the first weekend, selling more than 5 million units.” That’s the most phones sold in an opening weekend -- the iPhone 5 was the fastest selling phone in history.

10:01 AM: “We have some very fond memories here and we’re going to create a few more today,” Cook says. First, a few iPhone updates.

10:00 AM: Lots of applause and cheers. The crowd seems pretty enthusiastic today. Maybe it’s all the caffeine we were fed beforehand.

10:00 AM: Doing some hand warm-ups to get ready for you guys. Music is quieting.... and Tim Cook is onstage!

9:59 AM: Digging the acoustics in here. Seems like a good theater for a concert. Maybe the Foo Fighters will make a return appearance?

9:56 AM: Our event should begin shortly, we’ve been told. Time to silence our cellphones and other electronic devices. But not put them away because, you know, we need those.

9:49 AM: Last minute Google leak: For fun do a Google search for “13-inch macbook pro.” You’ll be presented with an official link with information about Retina display MacBooks including a 13-inch model.

Inside.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

9:47 AM: We’re here inside the theater, t-minus 13 minutes until the event is supposed to start. The theater is gorgeous -- a big change from the Yerba Buena Center.

9:19 AM: We're here at the California Theatre in San Jose, waiting for Apple's event to begin. It's a chilly, cloudy day in the Bay Area!

9:16 AM: Apple will be livestreaming today’s event. To watch the presentation live in your home or office, head over to Apple video stream page or fire up your Apple TV. Apple updated the set-top box Tuesday morning with a new Apple Events app.

Photo: John Bradley/Wired

9:11 AM: Poster outside the California Theater in San Jose.

In beautiful San Jose.

Photo: Christina Bonnington/Wired

9:08 AM: Almost in

SAN JOSE, California -- After years of speculation, it looks like today Apple could finally be unveiling the small iPad referred to as the iPad mini, along with a few other Cupertino-created goodies.

Gadget Lab's John Bradley (@johnwbradley) and Christina Bonnington (@redgirlsays) will be on-site at the California Theater in San Jose, California to deliver you the news right as it happens. The action starts at 10 a.m. PDT.

The iPad mini is expected to feature a 7.85-inch display with a 1024 × 768 resolution and look more like an oversized iPod touch. The tablet will likely be designed for media consumption and could be heavily targeted toward the education space. Pricing is expected to start at $250. For a look at the competition Apple could be facing in the 7-inch tablet space, click here.

Apple is also expected to unveil a slimmer 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (the 15-inch version debuted in June) and new Mac Minis.

To get a behind-the-scenes peek of what it's like at Apple's Oct. 23 media event, and more updates of what's announced, follow John, Christina, and @GadgetLab on Twitter.

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